When We're Together
by autumn midnights
Summary: Rose Weasley never thought she'd fall for such a strange, unique girl...especially a strange, unique, Slytherin girl. But sometimes, love overcomes house rivalries, and everything else just doesn't matter anymore. Rated T for language. Rose/Female OC


Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter. I am not J.K. Rowling. Therefore, I do not own Harry Potter.

A/N: For Lovisa's 150 Beautiful and Colorful Prompts thread on the Next-Gen Fanatics forum. Prompts are 'arctic', 'night', and 'umbrella', pairing Rose/Female OC.

Also for the 'OC Plotline Challenge' on HPFC, where I was given a scenario:

Rose never thought she'd fall for a Loony kid, let alone the youngest child and only daughter of Luna Lovegood. As strange and unnaturally insightful as her mother, the apple of Rose's eye proves that she knows the young Weasley better than she knows herself, perhaps even better than her family. The worst of it? For some reason, Luna's daughter was sorted into Slytherin, and if there's anything the Weasleys hate more than unfounded prejudices, it's Slytherins.

Prompts: Pudding Schnapps

Quote: "You are one sad, strange individual. Tell me, is it because your head is housing an unnatural amount of wrackspurts?"

_I am fully aware that Luna didn't have a daughter. For the sake of this fic, pretend she did._

* * *

I was just an average sixth year. I was a prefect, and perhaps my grades were better than many people's, but other than that, I was normal. I had cousins running all over the place; the Weasleys had always been known for their large families, and this generation was no exception. All of us were in Gryffindor, also, so we were always forced together in the common room. We ranged from seventh year to fourth year, and, although we occasionally had crazy, screaming fights, we were also the closest family in Hogwarts. James, Roxanne, and Molly were the oldest; Al and I were in sixth year, one year below them. Louis and Lucy were one year below us, while Lily and Hugo were the resident fourth years. We were all close, and although we often hung out with the people who shared our year, we also could be seen around Hogwarts with a random cousin or two trailing after.

The Weasleys had always been Slytherin-hating Gryffindors. It was a tradition that stretched back generations, and even in this generation, with so many of us, it hadn't been broken once. Yes, the hat had hesitated on some of us - Lily's sorting had become known as The Longest Five Minutes Ever - while others (like James) had been Sorted before the hat even touched their heads. But we had all ended up in the same house, and our parents' anti-Slytherin mentalities had been passed down to us. My father, perhaps, was the worst, but none of the adults particularly liked Slytherins, and they usually weren't shy about saying so. As a result, we hated them too. Perhaps it was pointless and unfounded; it probably was. After all, they may have been hurt by Slytherins in the past, but we didn't get that as much.

That was another nice thing about our large family. We rarely were teased or bullied, if only because the bullies were scared of retribution. It occurred once in a while -such a thing was natural in a school full of preteens and teenagers - but most of the time, they were too afraid of us to do anything. Or rather, afraid of Lily, who was the most cunning, mischievous troublemaker that I had ever known, and in the uncommon case of somebody bothering one of us, she promptly performed some prank on the person that left them knowing the Weasley-Potters were not to be trifled with. It was safe to say that we ruled Hogwarts, and we were comfortable with this. We had grown used to the favoritism from a couple teachers, the admiring looks from other students (our parents were war heroes, after all) and the way that some Slytherins even avoided us in the halls. We were living comfortably as the most popular students in Hogwarts, but like everything, it couldn't last.

And it wouldn't.

I never thought that it would be me who would completely destroy everybody's perceptions of our family. I would have thought that it would have been Lily, most likely, considering that she was practically a Slytherin in red and gold - a fact that everybody knew but nobody dared to say. She'd be the type of person to do something crazy like date Scorpius Malfoy just to see people's reactions. But me, never. I was the good one. Like everybody, I did have my moments; I had inherited the Weasley temper, after all, and Gryffindors were known for being reckless. But compared to many of my cousins, I was much better-behaved, and I kept to the rules, both Hogwarts rules and the rules of our family, quite well.

Until I didn't. It came about quite suddenly, and it started with the realization that I did not have any interest in boys. That was a long time coming, I suppose, looking back. I had never had a boyfriend, and I didn't really get crushes, either. My explanation had simply been that I was too busy with schoolwork, family, and friends to bother about romance. I couldn't help but realize, though, that although I didn't find boys attractive, I found girls attractive. Such a thing was not completely taboo in the Wizarding World, but nor was it fully accepted. Just like Muggle-born students or people with a different skin color, there were some people who were fine with it, and others who found it disgusting. It was rather similar to the Muggle world, in that particular respect.

I didn't tell people. There was one downside to being popular - that everybody knew your secrets. If I had told a few people that I liked girls, then by the next day, it would have spread around the school, and there was nothing that even Lily would have been able to do to stop it. So I kept it secret, since it was easier. I'd tell people after Hogwarts, when I didn't go to classes and see the same people over and over again. Adults were better than teenagers when it came to things like that, I knew. So I continued my life as I had, and nothing changed, at least for a little while.

It was October of my sixth year when I finally admitted to myself that I was lesbian. It was November of my sixth year when I first noticed Lorelai Scamander. She was Luna Lovegood-Scamander's youngest child, and in Lily's year. The twins, Lorcan and Lysander, were with Louis and Lucy, but since the twins were in Ravenclaw, my cousins did not share many classes with them. Lorelai, however, was a Slytherin, and so Lily, being a Gryffindor, would share almost all her classes with the youngest Scamander. I first noticed her when I was simply walking down the corridor toward my next class, and a crowd of fourth years, both Slytherin and Gryffindor, nearly knocked me to the ground as they rushed past.

She was following them, but at a more respectable pace, and she was at least fifteen feet behind the stampede of them. I was pressed against the wall to avoid them, and she walked over to me. "I do hope that they haven't harmed you," she said. "They are quite insane, do you think?"

"Um...yes," I responded, taking in her appearance. She was actually quite pretty, although her hair was slightly straggly and her eyes were a little too large. A necklace made of corks hung around her neck. The resemblance to Luna was tremendous. "You're Lorelai Scamander, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am." She nodded. "I've seen you before. You're Rose Weasley - your brother Hugo is in my year."

I glanced in the direction in which the stampeding fourth years had gone. "Why were they running to class?" The sight of Lily, who was a notorious slacker in classes except when it suited her mischievous interests to be excited, running to get to class, was quite amusing.

"Professor MacDougal said in her last class that we could have duels in class. I think they are excited at the prospect of hurting each other."

"She'd never let anybody get really hurt," I said, vaguely irritated that I had never been able to duel anybody in class. "I have to get to class, anyway."

"I'll see you later," she called, and we headed off in different directions.

Later that day I headed outside. It was relatively cold out, but I had always liked the cold more than anybody else I knew. A light rain was falling, but I didn't bother with an umbrella; the chances of me being outside for a long period of time were minimal. I aimlessly wandered around, about to head back inside when suddenly Al ran up to me, his face paler than normal. "Rose! I'm so glad I found you."

"What happened?" I demanded as we half-jogged back up to the castle. "Is everybody all right?"

"Some idiot Slytherin cursed Lily," he replied.

"_Lily?" _That surprised me. Lily was actually quite good at magic, even though she was only a fourth year, and few people were stupid enough to try hexing or dueling her, since the chances were that she would win. "Who did it, a seventh year?"

"Yes, actually. Chase Higgs." He nodded. "He's going to be expelled, and even the Ministry might get involved because he's technically an adult."

"What did he do?" I gasped. Students were rarely expelled from Hogwarts because of how important learning to control our magic was. Only in extremely necessary cases did it occur. Not to mention, the Ministry getting involved meant that whatever the seventh year had done was illegal. They didn't get involved in Hogwarts students' punishments unless it had been against the law. The only spells that I knew to be against the law were Dark magic. "Merlin, is Lily all right?"

"She'll be fine. She's putting up a huge fuss right now." He pushed open the door as I cast quick Drying Charms on the both of us. "She's very pissed off. First of all, everybody was giving her these looks of pity, which you know she hates, and second of all...Lily didn't take kindly to being beaten by somebody. She thinks also that the person should have the same thing done to them. _Then _she thinks they should go to Azkaban, which is actually quite likely. She's just being quite loud about the whole thing."

We reached the Hospital Wing, and I was just about to ask - again - what actually happened when suddenly, Lily's voice came ringing out. "I don't care if it's not legal! Higgs should get a taste of his own medicine!"

"Miss Potter, please calm down. I am aware that you just went through an ordeal, which is precisely why you need to rest."

"My father didn't rest, back in the end of HIS fourth year after freaking VOLDEMORT did it to him! He freaking DUELED the damn bastard, not -"

"Language!" Madam Susan Bones, the school's Healer, gasped.

"Forget my language! He can't get away with doing what he did!"

"He won't, Miss Potter! He will be punished - he's being expelled right now. Now please, get back in bed!"

I pushed open the door. Lily was glaring at Madam Bones, obviously furious. She was a sight to behold - five foot one, flaming red hair, and extremely disheveled. "I'm not technically injured! Oh - " she glanced over to where Al and I were standing. "Hello. I didn't know you'd come. Did you hear what happened, Rose?"

"Um...not really." I knew that no matter what I answered, Lily would tell the whole story in explicit detail. She liked being the center of attention, or at least she did when she wasn't too busy sneaking around planning elaborate pranks. I resigned myself to hearing it, and so I perched on the chair next to the bed, while she reluctantly sat down. Madam Bones hovered awkwardly.

"All right," Lily began. "So I was just walking around near the dungeons - not in them, but near - because I wanted to plan some sort of prank and I needed to get an idea of the area. Then I saw this seventh year, big and obnoxious-looking and muscle-y, start coming my way, so I tried to hide in the Potions classroom, because I really didn't want to annoy this bloke who was twice my size, especially 'cause he's Slytherin. But then he came in the room, and started trying to curse me. And, you know, he's a seventh year, and irritatingly enough, he was better at dueling than me. Then the freaking bastard -"

"Langauge, Miss Potter!"

Lily waved a hand in the Healer's direction, as if saying 'nobody cares but you'. "The bastard Cruciated me! And I think that he should get a taste of his own medicine, because I never did a damn thing to this bloke, and he just randomly decided to perform a freaking Unforgivable on a fourth year."

"Bloody Slytherins," Al replied. "They're all Dark, that's what they are. I don't know why that house is still allowed to exist."

My first thought, I'll admit it, was Lorelai. She was a Slytherin, yes, but she seemed nice enough. I had seen nothing Dark about her - not that it was always outwardly obvious, but still - and I highly doubted that Luna, who was a member of Dumbledore's Army and fought against Death Eaters in the final battle, would allow or encourage the practices of Dark magic. Yes, Slytherins had a tendency to be Dark, but it couldn't be that every single one of them were bad. Teddy's grandmother was a Slytherin, after all, not that that was ever mentioned in our family.

"They can't get away with what they did!" Lily was shaking with fury. "And trust me, they won't."

* * *

Lily held true to that. She lashed out at the Slytherins worse than she ever had before. She had pranked them numerous times during her years in Hogwarts, but after the incident with the seventh year, whose name I did not know, she attacked them with a vengeance. Her pranks bordered on malicious, although they never caused serious harm, and despite the fact that almost everybody knew it was her, she was not punished. There was no concrete proof that it was her, although all of us Weasley-Potters knew for sure; she didn't hesitate to tell us her plans because she knew we wouldn't squeal. The teachers could not get a confession from her, or from us, however, and so she remained safe.

It worried me, though, how she held all Slytherins responsible for what had happened to her. It wouldn't be the first time that a Gryffindor had adapted the 'one Slytherin does something wrong, they're all at fault' mentality, but I had never heard of anybody assaulting them so fiercely as Lily did. It didn't surprise me, however; Lily was extremely intense in all aspects of her personality, and she never did anything halfway. It got to the point where the Slytherins couldn't go two days without feeling the effects of some prank.

The real problem, for me, started when I saw two Slytherins in my year assisting Lorelai, who had tentacles sprouting from her arms, to the hospital wing. Instantly I headed over to them; after all this time, I still held a soft spot for the youngest Scamander. "What happened?" I asked them.

"Your cousin," the one on the left said. "Your stupid cousin put something in the food this morning. Apparently we're all to blame for what happened to her." He glared at me, as if I had something to do with Lily's obsession. "Several people had to be taken to the Hospital Wing." They dropped Lorelai off at the door and left. I stayed next to her.

"You all right?"

"I suppose. Madam Bones will give me something to make the tentacles go away." She waved her arm. "It's rather interesting-looking, though. My mom told me that some species of magical creatures are attracted to tentacles as a food item. Unfortunately, none of them live here. One species lives in the Arctic, and another lives in South America. Which is why I'm going to get them removed - they wouldn't serve me any use."

I settled on, "You're right, they wouldn't," as my answer. Madam Bones helped her to a bed and bustled into the back room to get some sort of potion, I presumed, and I was left alone with Lorelai. I sat down next to her, and for a couple minutes we talked. Lorelai was strange, yes, but she was also quite nice, especially for a Slytherin. I planned to stay with her for longer when suddenly, James burst in and saw me next to her.

"What are you doing?"

"Talking," I responded simply.

"Fraternizing with the enemy, really, Rose?"

"Don't tell me that you believe Lily's mindset that every single Slytherin is to blame." I rolled my eyes. "You have to admit, she's taking this much too far." Lily was passionate about everything, and in some cases, that was a very good thing. However, in this case, it was simply rather irritating.

"Regardless of that," James snapped, "Slytherins are still the opposition. That's how it always has been, and that's how it always will be."

Lorelai was staring at him, her head slightly tilted as if she was studying him. There was a brief pause, and then she said calmly, "You are one sad, strange individual. Tell me, is it because your head houses an abnormal amount of Wrackspurts?" She glanced at me, then back to James. "Do you truly believe that all of your family's children will end up being Gryffindors? That's rather unlikely, you know, considering the amount of you that there are."

"Weasley-Potters have always been Gryffindors," he replied, his tone still sharp. "Rose, come on."

"I know that you - and Lily - think all Slytherins are evil," I said to him, "but that's not the case. I'll catch up with you later."

Lorelai turned her gaze toward me. "It's nice that you don't think I'm evil."

"Are you kidding me?" James' voice was dangerously low. "You're choosing a Slytherin over your family?" He looked ready to hit something, or worse, hex Lorelai or I, but he kept his wand in his pocket.

"Don't be ridiculous," I responded. "I am not choosing anybody over anybody. Lorelai is not evil, and she is, in fact, very nice. Your sister is going too far. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to stay here with her for a little while. I told you, James, I'll talk to you later." I glared back at him. He was being a prat about this; there was absolutely no reason for him to overreact like this.

James stormed out, and I rolled my eyes at the door just as Madam Bones returned with a cup of potion for Lorelai. "Here you go, dear," she said, handing the cup to the Slytherin laying next to me. "Rose, are you all right?"

"I'm fine," I replied. "I just wanted to stay here with Lorelai, since nobody else is."

If it was possible, her eyes would have popped out of her head. As it was, she seemed very surprised at the possibility of a Gryffindor like me being friends with a Slytherin. "It's always nice to see people from opposing houses be friends," she settled on, and went back to her office, leaving me alone with the youngest Scamander. I watched her as she sipped from the cup, finishing it relatively quickly. The tentacles steadily disappeared, one after the other.

"Thank you for staying with me. It was a very nice thing to do, like something a friend would do. Are you my friend, Rose?"

I hesitated; I would be lying if I said I didn't. But something in me made me nod and say, "Yes." Perhaps I wanted to break free from the mold. Perhaps I had already started getting a crush on her. I cannot be sure of my emotions when I look back upon this year, but I can say for sure, that particular moment was the catalyst that changed everything.

* * *

It was kept quiet, to my surprise, that I had spent the afternoon with Slytherin Lorelai Scamander. Apparently James, the only one besides Lorelai, myself, and Madam Bones who knew, hadn't told anybody, not even his siblings or cousins. I noticed a certain chill in his behavior toward me, but he was never outright rude. He wanted to put the incident behind us, and he hoped that it wouldn't happen again. He was one of those people who was fanatical about House loyalty; I wasn't.

Lily stopped attacking the Slytherins a couple weeks after. I didn't know exactly what happened, but she retreated to simply her normal, occasional pranks, and stopped mercilessly pounding on them. I was thankful for that, at least, although I was certainly curious as to what inspired her sudden change of mind. Perhaps it had something to do with the seventh year finally getting sent to Azkaban for what he did; she threw a party in the Gryffindor common room that night when it happened. I was relieved, though - not only because Chase Higgs had been punished, but also because Lily stopped tormenting the Slytherins.

I spent more and more time with Lorelai. One would argue that I neglected my other friends, and my cousins, and I desperately tried to make time for both of them. It was difficult to see Lorelai, however, since she was in both another year and another house, and we were meeting in quiet places where nobody would find us. We were just hanging out and talking, although sometimes, our choices of location - like abandoned classrooms - made my mind go in other directions that would have made my grandmother faint.

I expected to get caught at some point, and of course, such a thing happened. Lorelai and I were exiting the classroom we had talked in this time just as James was walking down the hallway. He looked from me, to her, to the classroom, and back again to me so quickly that it was comical. "You...two..." he stammered. "Rose..."

"It's not like that," I protested, even though I secretly wished it was what it resembled. "We were just talking."

"I must say, though," Lorelai said. "You are quite pretty, Rose. I wouldn't particularly mind, you know, if we were in a relationship together."

I didn't particularly want to have this conversation in front of my cousin, but I couldn't let the opportunity pass by. "I wouldn't mind, either."

"Um, I'm still here..." James said awkwardly, but I shooed him away. He left, muttering something about going to the kitchen and making the elves get him some pudding schnapps, and I was left alone with Lorelai.

I'm not sure, even now, who initiated that first kiss. We both leaned toward each other at exactly the same time, and our lips met. Her lips were soft, melding easily to mine, and her arms wrapped around me, pulling me closer. We broke away at exactly the same moment for breath, and she glanced up at me. "That was quite pleasant."

"Yes," I replied. "It definitely was."

* * *

We tried to keep it secret. We really did. I didn't particularly want to hear everybody talking about how I was not only lesbian, but also dating a Slytherin; the gossip and rumors that flew would irritate me greatly. I couldn't help but tell my cousins and my brother, however; I didn't particularly want to keep something like this, something so big, from them. Especially if somebody else had caught us and spread the word, well, I didn't want them hearing the news from somebody else first. Lorelai told her brothers, but it didn't particularly matter to me, as I didn't see them very much at all, and as Lorelai trusted them, than I would too.

My family took a little while to get used to the idea. They came around, though; we all were very close, and we weren't about to let something like this completely estrange me from them. I told the rest of the family over the Easter holidays, and they, too, were fine with it, although they were somewhat surprised. I was pleased with the whole situation, and I remember writing in my diary (which I rarely did), only a couple sentences: _My life is great right now. I'm so happy all the time - I think I'm in love. Plus, I have the best family ever, and I love them as much they love me...Merlin, being in love is making me quite sappy._

So when Lorelai and I were caught kissing on the train, I looked at the person who caught us, right in the eye, and shrugged. At some point soon, I would care; at some point soon I would have to deal with the rumors and the gossip and the name-calling. But at that moment, I didn't really care. I was in love, and everything, at that point, was good.

* * *

**Haha, I never write the 'everybody's in Gryffindor' scenario, but it was needed for this particular fic. I don't really think of Rose as lesbian, either, but her and Lorelai are really cute together. Also, this is a oneshot and will not be continued. Anyway, please review!**


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